Tissue gripping surgical forceps

ABSTRACT

Surgical forceps for atraumatically gripping tissue during surgical procedures provides two parallel rows of teeth which interdigitate; they interlock but do not make direct contact. The rows of teeth are separated by a groove which extends into the jaw face below the base of the teeth for the reception of tissue. Elongated members have opposed faces and resilient distal ends, at which ends the members are joined. The members are biased away from each other and require a small finger pressure to move the faces into an abutting relation. When the faces are forced into the abutting relation, teeth on the proximal ends interdigitate and positively grip, but do not puncture or otherwise injure, the tissue.

United States Patent [191 Chester TISSUE GRIPPING SURGICAL FORCEPS [75]Inventor: John E. Chester, Orange, Conn.

[73] Assignee: Edward Weck & Company, Inc.,

Long lsland City, NY.

[22] Filed: Sept. 15, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 289,396

[52] U.S. Cl. 128/354, 128/321, 81/43 [51] Int. Cl A6lb 17/28 [58] Fieldof Search 128/354, 321, 324, 355,

128/346, 322, 323; 32/62; 81/43, 425 R, 340, 366, 419, 418; 132/32;24/255 H, 255 HE, 255 G, 255 T2, 259 FF, 259 HC, 259 A,

[ June 11, 1974 3,515,139 6/1970 Mallina 128/346 PrimaryExaminer-Richard A. Gaudet Assistant Examinerl-lenry J. Recla Attorney,Agent, or FirmLawrence S. Levinson; Merle J. Smith; John .I. Archer [57]ABSTRACT Surgical forceps for atraumatically gripping tissue duringsurgical procedures provides two parallel rows of teeth whichinterdigitate; they interlock but do not make direct contact. The rowsof teeth are separated by a groove which extends into the jaw face belowthe base of the teeth for the reception of tissue. Elongated membershave opposed faces and resilient distal ends, at which ends the membersare joined. The members are biased away from each other and require asmall finger pressure to move the faces into an abutting relation. Whenthe faces are forced into the abutting relation, teeth on the proximalends interdigitate and positively grip, but do not puncture or otherwiseinjure, the tissue.

3 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures TISSUE GRIPPING SURGICAL FORCEPS BACKGROUNDOF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to surgical forcepsadapted to grip tissue without causing injury thereto.

In many surgical procedures the surgeon is required to hold, lift ordisplace tissue. During the operation the surgeon must positively gripthe tissue, but he must do so in a manner which causes as little damageto the tissue as is possible. This is particularly true where the tissueto be gripped is quite thin or delicate.

There are several prior art forceps and other gripping devices capableof positively grasping the tissue, but they do not perform adequatelywhere the tissue to be grasped is quite thin or delicate. Such tissuecan easily be punctured, torn or otherwise injured. Most prior artforceps comprise opposing teeth or ridges which are exactly opposed. Inother words the tips of the teeth touch when the jaws are forcedtogether. When thin or delicate tissue is grasped with such devices theteeth tend to produce puncture holes and can even cause the tissue totear. This is a most disadvantageous characteristic of the prior art andthe present invention is directed at providing a solution to thisproblem. The forceps embodied in the instant invention provide apositive gripping of the tissue but avoid puncture or tearing.Thesurgical procedure, unhampered by tissue destruction, can becompleted without any attendant complication from tissue injury.

- SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention toprovide surgical forceps which permit positive gripping of thin ordelicate tissue.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of surgicalforceps which cause little or no injury to the tissue.

In accordance with the above designs the present invention is preferablyembodied in a tweezer-like structure having cooperating jaw portions. Apair of elongated members are joined at distal, resilient ends. Themembers are joined such thatthey are normally biased away from eachother and need only a small amount of finger pressureto urge the facesinto relative abutting relation. The intermediate portions of themembers are knurled so that the instrument can be positively grasped bythe surgeon.

The forward or proximal ends of the members have gripping sectionsformed on the respective faces. Each jaw comprises two parallel rows ofteeth separated by a groove which extends intothe face of the elongatedmembers below the teeth. The teeth interdigitatewhen the jaws are forcedtogether; that is, they interlock, but do not make direct contact innormal use. The tissue gripped tends to fill the spaces between theteeth in an undulated or wave-like configuration. In this manner thereis relatively'little puncture of the tissue and no injury of any otherkind. The interdigitating of the teeth permit the positive gripping ofeven very thin or delicate tissue without harm thereto. The grooveprovides an additional area filled by'tissue, which tissue will becompletely free of trauma.

The above and other objects of the present invention will be apparent asthe description continues and when read in conjunction with thedrawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1, illustrates a side elevational viewof the preferred embodiment of the instant invention.

FIG. 2, illustrates a plan view of a jaw section of the embodiment ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 3, illustrates a perspective view of the jaws of the instantinvention shown grasping tissue.

FIG. 4, is a greatly enlarged perspective view of a cluster of teeth.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to FIG. I, it is seen the presentinvention consists of opposed elongated members l2, 14. The distal endsl6, 18 of members 12, 14 respectively are tapered and joined at section20. Those ends are resilient and biased away from each other requiring asmall, but significant, finger pressure to urge the jaw sections 22, 24into a mating engagement. An intermediate portion of the outer faces isknurled to facilitate grasping by a surgeon.

Referring to FIG. 2, jaw section 22 is shown in detail and it is to beunderstood that the description thereof is applicable to jaw 24. The jaw22 consists of two rows of teeth 26 separated by a groove 28. The teeth26 are longitudinally spaced and are generally identical. The greatlyenlarged view of a cluster of teeth in FIG. 4 illustrates the teeth 26as generally pyramidal in shape. The teeth 26 comprise a major base 30and tapered and sloped walls 32, 34, 36, 38 which terminate in the toothminor base or apex 40. As indicated in FIG. 3 the groove extends intothe face of the jaw below the major base 30.

As indicated in FIG. 4, when the jaw sections 22, 24 are forced into amating engagement the respective teeth 26 on those jaws will mesh. Thismeash is charac: terized by alongitudinal interdigitation by the variousteeth; they interlock, but do not make direct contact in normal use. Forsimplicity, the teeth of jaw 24 as shown in FIG. 4 will be designatedthe a teeth. The cluster of teeth illustrated in FIG. 4 indicates thattooth 26 is centrally received between the teeth 26a with the apex 40received in the space 42. As previously stated, in normal use there isno direct contact between the teeth 26, 26a.. All the teeth on both jawsare similarly received. For instance, teeth 26a would be receivedbetween two teeth 26 on the opposing jaw. The only exceptions to thisdescription would be the end teeth on both rows of both jaws. Sincethere are an equal number of teeth on each jaw, and the teeth on one jawmust be staggered with respect to the other jaw for interdigitation, theforward end teeth on one jaw and the rear end teeth on the other jawwill not fall between two teeth on the opposing jaw.

As shown in FIG. 1, the post 50 is connected to member 12 and bearsagainst member 14 to prohibit the application of excessive pressure. Thepost 52 is also attached to member 12 and received in hole 54 in member14 to prohibit any lateral movement of the members with respect to eachother which would destroy the alignment of the teeth.

As shown in FIG. 3, the forceps embodied herein are particularly adaptedfor grasping very thin or delicate layers of tissue. The tissue 44 whengrasped lies within the spaces between the teeth 26 and tends to assumethe shape of those teeth, however rounding out the edges. In otherwords, the tissue will assume an undulated or wave-like configuration.Additionally, a substantial portion of the tissue 44 will fall withinthe groove 28 and will be entirely free from pressure. In this mannerthere are many areas for gripping the tissue 44, but the teeth 26 do notpuncture the same nor do they exert a substantial pressure thereon. Thesurgeon can deftly manipulate the tissue 44 without causing any traumathereto.

The present invention may be embodied in several forms and many changesmay be made in the details without daparting the spirit and scope of theappended claims, which changes are intended to be embraced therewithin.

What is claimed is:

1. Surgical forceps for atraumatically gripping tissue comprising a pairof opposed elongated members having confronting faces, said membersincluding a rear resilient section and said members joined at saidsection such that said members are normally biased away from each other,said faces forcible into generally abutting relation with application ofa relatively small amount of pressure, the forward ends of said facescomprising two parallel rows of pyramidal teeth separated by a groovewhich extends into said face below said teeth, said teeth on the opposedmembers being identical but longitudinally interdigitating when saidfaces are in said aubtting relation, said teeth adapted 3. The forcepsof claim 1 including a knurled inter-' mediate portion adapted forgripping by a surgeon.

1. Surgical forceps for atraumatically gripping tissue comprising a pairof opposed elongated members having confronting faces, said membersincluding a rear resilient section and said members joined at saidsection such that said members are normally biased away from each other,said faces forcible into generally abutting relation with application ofa relatively small amount of pressure, the forward ends of said facescomprising two parallel rows of pyramidal teeth separated by a groovewhich extends into said face below said teeth, said teeth on the opposedmembers being identical but longitudinally interdigitating when saidfaces are in said aubtting relation, said teeth adapted for use insurgical procedures requiring the gripping of very thin layers oftissue, said tissue when gripped, tending to fill the spaces between theteeth in an undulated configuration and also tending to fill saidgroove, whereby the tissue may be positively but atraumatically grippedwithout puncture or injury.
 2. The forceps of claim 1 including a stoppost attached to the face of one of said elongated members intermediatethe respective ends thereof, said post adapted to abut the opposing faceso as to prevent the teeth from making direct contact.
 3. The forceps ofclaim 1 including a knurled intermediate portion adapted for gripping bya surgeon.